The present invention relates to an electrical connector which is for electrically connecting the wires of a motor vehicle in the main to each other and whose pair of housings are fastened to and unfastened from each other by operation a cam member.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional electrical connector disclosed in the Japan patent Application (OPI) No. 203581/86 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published application") and including a female housing a, a male housing b, and a double-armed cam member c for fastening the housings to each other. Metal terminals are accommodated in each of the housings a and b. The box-shaped portion a.sub.1 of the female housing a has slender openings a.sub.2 for sliding and guiding the cam member c. Operating projections c.sub.1 are provided on the mutually-opposite inner surfaces of the cam member c so as to be engaged in the slender openings a.sub.2 and extend into the box-shaped portion a.sub.1. The mutually-opposite outer surfaces of the male housing b have inlet grooves b.sub.1, into which the operating projections c.sub.1 are moved, and oblique operated grooves b.sub.2 continuous to the inlet grooves. When the female and the male housings a and b are to be fastened to each other with the cam member c, the cam member is fitted on the female housing and the male housing is positioned in front of the male housing so that the inlet grooves b.sub.1 of the male housing are opposed to the operating projections c.sub.1 of the cam member, as shown in FIG. 5(a). The male housing b is then pushed into the female housing a so that the operating projections c.sub.1 are moved to the outer ends of the oblique operated grooves b.sub.2 through the inlet grooves b.sub.1, as shown in FIG. 5(b). The cam member c is then moved rightward with regard to the drawings so that the operating projections c.sub.1 are moved from the outer ends of the oblique operated grooves b.sub.1 to the inner ends thereof through the grooves to pull the male housing b deeper into the female housing a, as shown in FIG. 5(c). The housings a and b are thus fastened to each other with the cam member c to electrically connect the metal terminals to each other. In this conventional art, if the operating projections c.sub.1 of the cam member c fail to be moved from the outer ends of the oblique operated grooves b.sub.1 of the male housing b to the inner ends of the grooves through them but stop halfway therein, the female and the male housings a and b are incompletely fastened to each other. The incomplete fastening cannot be easily detected. This is a problem.